DUSHANBE, December 17, 2012, Asia-Plus – Ms. Fayzinisso Vohidova, the defense lawyer of Tajik tycoon Nizomkhon Jourayev, considers that prejudgment provided for by Tajikistan’s Penal Code contradicts the Constitution of Tajikistan.
According to her, prejudgment is allegedly widespread in Tajikistan law enforcement practice, and therefore, “hundreds or even thousands of illegally convicted people are now serving their terms in institutions of confinement.”
“During the preliminary investigation, Nizomkhon Jouryaev solicited for a complex forensic examination to determine the amount of actual damages and the investigator satisfied his request,” said Vohidova, “The Prosecutor-General’s Office, however, annulled the decision passed by the investigator and gave written instructions to send the case to court.”
“Besides, according to findings of the repeat financial inspection, the amount of the actual damages is 1.7 million somoni but not 40 million somoni as it had been stated before,” said Vohidova. “Jourayev has made a prepayment of 10 million somoni; it means that 31 persons convicted over Jourayev’s case must be acquitted and released.”
Nizomkhon Jourayev had been wanted by Tajik police since 2007. He was a successful businessman who owned the chemical plant in the northern city of Isfara. In 2007 investigations were launched into his financial activities, and later in 2008 he was officially accused of ordering assassination of former Deputy Prosecutor-General Tolib Boboyev in 1999.
Criminal proceedings have been instituted against Nizomkhon Jourayev under the provisions of eight articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code: Article 104 – murder; Article 185 – organization of illegal armed formation; Article 186 – banditry; Article 195 – illegal storage of weapons; Article 245 – embezzlement or misappropriation; Article 262 – money laundering; Article 292 – tax evasion; and Article 340 – document forgery. Nizomkhon Jourayev left the country before his arrest warrant was issued.
On June 9, 2009, the Supreme Court of Tajikistan sentenced 31 associates of Nizomkhon Jourayev to long jail terms. They were sentenced to prison terms between 11 and 25 years, while a prosecutor in the trial of them asked for shorter terms for them.
According to Tajik law enforcement authorities, Nizomkhon Jourayev and his two brothers, Fakhriddin and Tolib, were involved in organizing the assassination of former Deputy Prosecutor-General Tolib Boboyev in 1999.
Jourayev and his associates were also charged with setting up an organized criminal group, tax evasion, and a number of financial crimes.
Moscow police detained Nizomkhon Jourayev on August 27, 2010 after three years of evading arrest.
According to Amnesty International, Nizomkhon Jourayev applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in 2011 to rule on violations of his rights to freedom from torture, his rights to liberty and security and effective remedy under Articles 3, 5 and 13 of the ECtHR. Amnesty International says the ECtHR on November 24, 2011 applied interim measures under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court preventing Nizomkhon Jourayev from being sent back to Tajikistan until the ECtHR had ruled on his case. Immediately after Nizomkhon Jourayev’s disappearance his lawyer informed the ECtHR about the situation. The ECtHR has requested that the Russian authorities provide their comments on the situation before April 2. Nizomkhon Jourayev was reportedly released from a Russian detention facility on March 29.
Investigation into the so-called Isfara Case has been resumed after return of Nizomkhon Jourayev from Moscow. Earlier this year he resurfaced in Tajikistan under unexplained circumstances and told state media that he had come back to face justice at home.
The chief detective of the anticorruption agency Saidakhtam Mudinov, who had previously served with the Ministry of Interior and been member of the operational group investigating the criminal case of Nizomkhon Jourayev, was arrested last June on suspicion of having misused powers. The preliminary investigation reportedly established that misusing powers, Lieutenant-Colonel Mudinov illegally took possession of Nissan Maxima belonging to Nizomkhon Jourayev.
A number of law enforcement officials, including Shermat Nourov, ex-deputy transportation prosecutor of Tajikistan, and Nour Nourov, judge from the Supreme Court, were also detained after investigation into the Isfara Case was resumed.
